Just When You Were Worried About Getting Bored.

The State House Might Be Taking The Week Off ...... but the state Senate isn't, and there's no shortage of stuff going on.
For openers, a Buddhist cleric, Sensei Anthony Stultz of Harrisburg's Blue Mountain Lotus Society is giving today's daily invocation.We're not sure whether Stultz's appearance is coming in response to some saber-rattling by the folks at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, but it sure does seem fortuitously timed to us.More astute readers may recall that AU wrote to Senate GOP leaders a few weeks back to tell them they'd been hearing that the chamber's daily invocation was getting a little Christian-y, and that the Constitution only allowed them to have a prayer as long as they kept it nice and non-sectarian. Otherwise, they'd have to scrap it.Last week, Senate GOP boss Joe Scarnati, R-Warren, wrote back, and told the AU-types that the prayer wasn't going anywhere and that the Senate was so inclusive that they were thinking about getting a Wiccan priestess to offer next week's invocation. Okay ... we made that last bit up. But we would pay good money to see Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi dancing around the Maypole.Speaking of which, the Senate could take up Pileggi'sOpen Records reform bill as early as today. You know which one we're talking about -- it's the one the House didn't bungle?Anyway, the Senate comes in at 1 p.m., which could be 4 p.m., or next Tuesday, depending on the way things shake out.

The rest of today's news, which had blessings bestowed on it by the last surviving acolyte of Baal, starts after the jump.

Not Bad For An Hour's Work.Former NYC Mayor and recovering cell phone abuser Rudy Giuliani raised at least $100,000
for his presidential campaign during a quick swing through the Lehigh Valley yesterday, our Mothership colleague, Daryl Nerl, reports this morning.
About 100 people showed up for the private event at the Bethlehem Township home of Dr.
Atul Amin and his wife, Patrice. The event was co-hosted by U.S. Rep.
Charlie Dent, R-15th District, who, like many leading Republicans in the
Lehigh Valley, has bruised his knees while jumping on the Giuliani bandwagon.''He will be competitive in a lot of places where other Republican
presidential candidates were not very strong,'' said Dent, who
mentioned suburban Philadelphia as a particular example where
Republicans have recently lost ground.

He Hasn't Even Officially Taken Over Yet ...... and incoming state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille has already managed to
annoy the Legislature. In an interview with Capitolwire that's so password-protected that we had to sell a pint of our own plasma on the Eastern European black market just to get in, Castille said the state court system is "far ahead" of the Legislature when it comes to granting access to its financial records.Of course, you have to take out a second mortgage to make photocopies of them. But why let that stand in the way of some good spin?Anyway, Castille told Capitolwire's Chris Lillienthal that all of the court's financial records are available to the public "as opposed to the $300
million that they have for community development in the Legislature,
where you can’t find out where it goes," by which we're pretty sure he means WAMs.Erik Arneson, chief spokesguy for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, wasted little time firing back, saying the courts could change their rules about access "at any time, which is why
access to their financial records should be codified in law."Working himself up to a state of high dudgeon, Arneson added, "Current law provides, and Senate Bill 1
would continue, full access to the legislature's financial records so
his comment is simply incorrect. Senate Bill 1 would
also make every state contract – including those used for Community
Revitalization grants through DCED – available on the Internet for the
first time, providing unprecedented access to the public.”It's handbags at dawn, then.

The Son Of State Rep. John Perzel ...... was arrested and charged last week with allegedly assaulting a female Philadelphia police
officer, the Daily News reports this morning.According to the DN, Samuel Perzel, 18, was in a rowdy crowd of 50 to 75 people who had gathered on
2nd Street near Tasker St. in South Philadelphia about midnight Nov. 18. Philly cops were called to the intersection to break up several small fights and disperse the crowd, the DN reported.When Officer Melissa Curcio tried to arrest Perzel after he ignored
repeated warnings to disperse, the teen - who "had a strong odor of
alcohol on his breath" - allegedly punched Curcio in the face, the DN reported, citing police records.Perzelfils was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, simple
assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and recklessly
endangering another person. He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 8 a.m. today at the 3rd Police District headquarters.

Prison Break -- For Real This Time.Officials at the state Department of Corrections say they're continuing the hunt for convicted
murderer Malcom Kysor, 53, who apparently tired of the state's hospitality at SCI-Albion near Erie and decided to leave.Corrections Department officials said Kysor was last seen around 3 p.m. on Sunday in the prison kitchen as he worked loading barrels of food waste onto a disposal truck. They were unable to account for him during the 4:30 p.m. head-count. A couple of additional head-counts concluded that he'd gone missing.State officials describe Kysor as a white male, five-foot-eight-inches tall and weighing around 160 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and sports several tattoos, including a flower and eagle on his right arm;
a rose with 2 hearts and a flower on his left arm; a devil, heart and snake on his
chest; and a devil with women and angel on a horse on his abdomen.Kysor is serving a life sentence for an April 1988 murder in Erie County. He was moved to the prison in Albion in April, the Associated Press reports. Authorities say the prison, which opened in 1993, was locked down after the escape. There has not been a prison break since 1999.

Now That's Gonna Leave A Mark.Keith Leaphart, the ambitious young physician pondering a spring primary challenge to powerhouse U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, D-Philadelphia, got taken to the woodshed, the Daily News reports this morning.Leaphart, 32, landed in hot water for mailing a fundraising invitation that listed U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as a special "invited guest." Local philanthropist H.F. Lenfest and Democratic moneyman Peter Butenwieser are co-charing the Dec. 6 event.When Brady got hold of the invite, he went straight to Lewis, whom he's known for more than a decade, and asked for an explanation. And that's when things got awkward ... for Leaphart, anyways.Turns out Leaphart were not allowed to use Lewis' name, and his staff was demanding a retraction."They should have never used the congressman's name without the
permission from the congressman to do so," said Michael Collins, Lewis'
chief of staff.David Dix, Leaphart's finance director, called the mix-up a case of mixed signals.Ouch.

So There, Dept.He may be getting slapped around by Club For Growth boss Pat Toomey, but in what we're
sure was a personalized message, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee writes this morning to tell us that the haters can hate on. He's still running for president, and he'd like your help to do it. Yes, we're looking at you, the third Republican from the left. No ... the other one ... the one eating breakfast in Montgomery County right now. Yeah ... you. Huckabee says he needs to raise $1.25 million by midnight tonight or else ... well ... we're not entirely clear on what will happen if he doesn't. Ahhh ... there it is. If he doesn't, his campaign in New Hampshire will come to a screaming halt, and he'll be forced to open a chain of moderately successful sports bars in Allentown.And we know who could give him advice about that.

Consigned To The Dustbin Of History.The PA Historical and Museum Commission unveiled an historical marker commemorating the site of Pittsburgh's old Three Rivers Stadium on Monday. Much like the Pirates' World Series hopes, the only remnant of the 1970s vintage stadium not pounded into dust is its Gate D pillar on Art Rooney Avenue near North Shore Drive.

Deck Chair Rearranging Dept.Former Swann Campaign spokesman, Leonardo Alcivar, has a new gig.Now living in D.C., Alcivar has hung out his shingle as a consultant for political, business and issue-oriented clients.EdWatch (TM):Gov. Ed makes it easy on us. No public schedule today.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning.Anyone remember the Greg Kihn Band? Sure they had a bit of an MTV hit with the inescapable "Jeopardy," around 1983-84. But we always preferred the catchier, "Break Up Song." Here's the clip.

Tuesday's Gratuitous Soccer Link.We rarely have occasion to write about Scottish soccer in this space. That's mostly because the Scottish Premier League is one of the most boring and predictable in all of European football. Every season, the two Glasgow teams, Celtic and Rangers, seem to trade spots at the top of the table and take home the league championship.The same cannot be said, however, on the Scottish national team, which plays a finesse game and is actually exciting to watch. Here's The Guardian'sKevin McCarra on how a renewed rivalry with Scotland might be just the thing to give the English national team the kick up the pants it needs so badly.